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As regards varieties of creatures we have a clear statement on the Majjhima Nikaya (Maha Simhanāda .Sutta)1 where the Buddha speaking to Sariputta refers to four yonis i. e. four categories under which creatures may be placed. The four yonis are-Aṇḍaja, Jalāyuja, Saṁsedaja and Aupapādhika—Aṇḍaja yoni, Samsedaja Yoni and Aupapadhika Yoni. The Andaja includes birds, reptiles (d), fish etc. Jalayuja is Jarāyuja. This includes men, beasts etc. These take birth through the Garbhaprisrava (placenta) of the mother's womb. The word Jala means Kalala (). That which envelops it is Jalayu i. e. Garbhapariveṣṭanāpa (mi¶à19). The Abhidharma Saṁgraha speaks of the Andaja and Jalāyuja as varieties of Garbhāśaya.
Samsedaja ( means worms born in rotten corpses in rotten water, barks of the trees and flowers. Aupapādhika means those who are born with limbs or part of the body as full. There are different kinds of Aupapadhika beings including deva, preta, aupapadhika etc. In the latter case defects in physical features i. e. eyes, expression (Bhava) etc. are possible but these defects do not cause prāṇavaikalya at all i. e. they do not stand in the way of mental activities of the being in any form. More or less in the same manner there is an account of the work of Asanga who in his Yogācāra bhūmi2 mentioned the above four varieties by name. He places swan, krauñca, peacock, parrot, sārikā etc. under Andaja class, elephant, horse, cow, ass etc. under Jarayuja class; worms (kṛmi), insects (kita ), butterfly (patanga) etc.under samsedaja class and the hell-beings, gods and some animals (tiryak) and the pretas, under aupapadhika type.
It is universally admitted that a person who performs an action right or wrong himself reaps its consequences.3 Justice demands that the doer of an action and the reaper of its consequences must be one and the same. This doctrine is admitted by all, not only by the advocates of the doctrine but even by the
1. Asanga's Yogācāra bhūmi pp. 45-46.
2. Majjhima Nikaya, Mahāsinhanāda Sutta 3. कर्तृत्वभोक्तृत्वयोः समानाधिकरणनियमाः ॥
